. . . a thoughtful, penetrating exploration of war and its expression in music through the ages.

Interview /
Opera Now (London) / 01. November 2014

. . . an exceptional set of songs about war . . . This is a superbly conceived and wonderfully performed collection about war and its emotional impact . . . Anna Prohaska's glittering soprano is hard-hitting in four Hanns Eisler songs, and while she finds an unearthly purity in Schubert's "Ellens Gesang I", she is as pungent in Kurt Weill's settings of Whitman as she is cool in Michael Cavendish's ancient lute song "Wand'ring in This Place". The imagination and care that has gone into this compilation is exceptional, and the results are totally compelling.

. . . an evocative selection . . . a treasurable disc, in which the playing of the piano accompaniments by Eric Schneider is an indispensable factor.

Record Review /
Michael Kennedy,
The Sunday Telegraph / 13. July 2014

. . . [this album] offers a typically thoughtful selection of four centuries of soldiers' songs. The emotional and chronological range is wide and full of contrast. Prohaska has a rich palette of expressive colours to draw on and she sings with effortless confidence through several languages and moods, sensitively partnered by her responsive pianist Schneider. This is a very rewarding disc, both moving and stirring.

. . . Anna Prohaska would deserve kudos simply for the ambition of this release of soldiers' songs. The idea, especially for a female singer, is original . . . Better still is the execution, which shows Prohaska's extreme versatility. She's one of the few non-Anglophone singers to get the difficult combination of vernacular American English and popular-classical crossover referentiality in the three Charles Ives songs included, and she moves effortlessly from the edgy anger of Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler to the more delicate tragic sense of Roger Quilter . . . [Schubert's "Ellens Gesang"] receives a really uncanny performance . . . this is the kind of album that leaves one wondering how anyone missed all this music . . . the accompaniment of Eric Schneider is nicely understated, and the sonic presentation is clear and unfussy. Highly recommended.

Record Review /
James Manheim,
AllMusic (Blog) / 06. August 2014

It's a clever and thought-provoking collection recommendable at any time . . .

Record Review /
Daily Mail (London) / 17. August 2014

This is one terrific album. And a bold concept . . . This is as intelligent and pertinent an album as has been heard for a while, and though the subject matter is indeed a serious reflection on a serious subject, the music often provides a soothing balm to our anxieties, offering a sober and calming persuasion while appealing to our emotional depths in a quiet manner as only great art can . . . Anna Prohaska's latest solo outing continues to raise her star in the eyes of music lovers everywhere. Her voice is a model of perfect diction, with thoughtful and deep intellect presenting itself in every bar. It certainly doesn't hurt that her soprano is so luscious. Eric Schneider offers sympathetic and closely-wedded accompaniment to make for an outstanding release!

I really rate both her interpretation and how she's picked the different composers for the disc -- it's a dark album . . . I also love her voice because she never just sings like an opera singer. She has a real control of her vibrato, and the way she sings along with the piano and her expression of the texts are both really great.

Anna Prohaska's new recital is enterprising, unusual and often gripping. With her excellent pianist Eric Schneider she presents four centuries of soldiers' songs . . . It's a potent mixture . . . The performances are consistently impressive -- Prohaska has all the requisite technical equipment, of course, but what makes this disc so engrossing is her sense of drama and responsiveness to the texts . . . Prohaska -- a superlative linguist -- is authoritative in three songs by Ives, with an effortless sense of line, clear diction and an ability to get to the emotional heart of every song: these are searching readings and "Tom Sails Away" is most hauntingly done . . . Prohaska is just as compelling in classic Lieder repertoire . . . With complete texts and translations provided in the booklet, and recorded sound that is very well balanced, this unusual disc is one that I would encourage any curious collector to explore. As I hope is obvious, the programme is superbly planned and executed. Very warmly recommended.

Record Review /
Nigel Simeone,
International Record Review (London) / 01. November 2014

Time and again, Anna Prohaska and Eric Schneider contrast the public and private faces of war -- duty to vanquish an evil enemy versus loss of human life, both on a mass scale (in Ives's "In Flanders Fields") or much more intimately (in Mahler's "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn") . . . Schubert's harmonies match the darkest moments of "Winterreise" in "Kriegers Ahnung" from "Schwanengesang"; Prohaska's delivery all but seethes . . . The disc's sequencing is brilliant. When the Mahler song arrives near the end, its piano-only opening, powerful in any context, profoundly distils much that has come before it. Prohaska's performances fully embody the hugely varying needs of each song, so much that one barely notices how she colours her voice in a variety of ways to suit the more vernacular Eisler or more operatic Mahler. She simply allows you to feel the song with the clean, crisp delivery that has made her an important early-music singer. Her sense of language is excellent. Booklet-notes and text translations are smartly done.

It's hard to imagine a more fitting musical tribute to the millions of lives lost in conflict: this is brilliantly conceived programming performed with incredible artistry, giving equal weight to the song texts as well as their music. The engineering is also superb, capturing every nuance of Prohaska's singing and the vivid playing of pianist Eric Schneider. Theirs is a bold venture, moving back and forth through musical history . . . Yet so well has the collection been chosen and sequenced to find affinities of meaning, sensibility and key between each item and the next, there are no jarring gear changes. Indeed, the cumulative effect of this approach highlights the shared humanity of people affected by war through time and across continents . . . Prohaska, an excellent linguist, excels in all [four languages] . . . "Behind the Lines" works wonderfully as a whole. The cumulative effect is engrossing, atmospheric and moving.

Record Review /
Owen Mortimer,
Opera Now (London) / 01. November 2014

Anna Prohaska offers an imaginatively programmed recital . . . If Anna Prohaska is not already on your list of favorite young singers, add her immediately. The Austrian soprano's artistic confidence and imaginative verve are on display in "Behind the Lines" . . . The freshness and clarity of Prohaska's singing imparts poignancy to each piece, whether boisterous or nostalgic, proud or terrified, which contributes to the overall sense of futility and loss . . . [an] extraordinary recital . . .

The selection of material is fascinating, and Prohaska's clear, lyrical delivery gives us a feminine perspective on the tragedy of battle and its aftermath . . . [the tone ranges widely] from the heartbreaking simplicity of Roger Quilter's Shakespeare setting "Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun" to the jagged atonality of Wolfgang Rihm's "Untergang" ("Greetings" from dead soldiers in their graves). So that this program of 25 songs in English, German, and French doesn't become a grab bag, there's a strong focus on World War I . . . Prohaska has unearthed some unexpectedly brilliant songs or placed old ones in a new context . . . Listing song titles gives no hint of the musical richness of the program, which is remarkably imaginative . . . a spell is cast that lifts the CD to a high level of imagination and interest. The recorded sound is very good . . . a recording that will stick in the mind for a long time.

Prohaska has unearthed some unexpectedly brilliant songs or placed old ones in a new context: Hugo Wolf's "Der Tambour", Ives's "Tom Sails Away", and most surprising of all, Liszt's rarely sung but deeply moving "Joan of Arc at the Stake" . . . the program [is] remarkably imaginative . . . In every number her delivery is gentler than any I've previously encountered, and her accompanist, Eric Schneider, is similarly reticent. Yet the singer's sincerity and musicality are undoubted, and a spell is cast that lifts the CD to a high level of imagination and interest. The recorded sound is very good . . . She's made a recording that will stick in the mind for a long time.